Nevada County Neighborhood RV Trip

December 14 - 17, 2007 - Seven couples (Lundquist, Hackett, Willoughby, Maxwell, Frost, Russell and Wilford) ventured forth to Nevada County and stayed at the Nevada County Fairgrounds with their RVs/Trailers for a festive weekend in Grass Valley and Nevada City. The fairgrounds have full hook-ups and served as base camp for the weekend.

We obtained use of a room that we were able to use for evening snacks and games and morning coffee get-togethers. The room had just been winterized, so with no carpet or amenities (i.e., bathroom), we enjoyed the heater and company and of course, dice.


On Saturday the 15th, we split up and ventured forth to historic Grass Valley to see the sights. Ten of us ended up in the same restaurant for lunch (Cirino's). Great food, but the service ended up to be a little terse. Still worth the visit.

Most of us then went to the Empire Mine State Park - the 3rd largest producing gold mine in the United States. Some of us took the docent led tour and learned quite a bit.


Brad, Roger, Diane, Martha, Mary and Cy enjoying the lecture.


Roger, Diane, Mary, Cy, Martha and Brad in the mine shaft. Quite awesome actually - pictures do not justify.


On Sunday, the Hackett's, Maxwell's, Willoughby's and Wilford's went for brunch at the Northern Queen Inn in Nevada City. Diane and Roger have stayed there a couple of times and recommended it. It was a wonderful brunch - great food and service. Beautiful grounds!






Next stop - Victorian Christmas in Nevada City. This is a very popular event. Such a cute historic town with great holiday spirit.

Martha, Mary and Diane checking out some booths as they set up.


Brad and Bud keeping warm. It was a little chilly!!


A bell ringing group from Sacramento.


Whoa!!! It's Father Christmas!


Holidays are not complete without Celtic dancers.


Here's precious Greta Lundquist enjoying her trip until.......

this mean old rooster attacked her, cutting one of her legs. A trip to the vet, some antibiotics and pain pills and Greta was more comfortable. NOTE - beware of roosters!!!!

37th Anniversary Day Trip - November 28, 2007

Seems like yesterday.......


For our anniversary, we decided to spend a day seeing some new sights. Bud saw an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge located off I-5, north of Williams and south of Willows. It was a clear, windy day in the low 60's - a good day for bird watching. Keep in mind that Bud and I aren't "birders". We do recognize some species like pelicans, sea gulls, hawks, herons, egrets, ducks etc., but mostly it boils down to "there's a white one and there's a black one".

There is a nice visitor's center where we met a very informative, chatty docent. We proceeded along the wetlands trail that has numbered stops with matching descriptions in the trail brochure.

This is a seasonal marsh, yada, yada, yada


Wood ducks, we found out, nest in hole in trees. In the middle of the picture below is a nest box for wood ducks. Boxes like this are placed to make up for lost nesting trees.


Pretty trees along the trail.


The refuge has a 6-mile auto-tour which turns out to be a wonderful way to see the birds. They are not scared off by the slow moving vehicles. On our walk, we sent quite a few birds into flight by our presence.

Bud looking at Snow Geese and Ross Geese. We saw this group take flight and return - incredible sight.


On a clear day you can see the Sutter Buttes....


More geese and ducks. We saw a blue heron at one point.




We then proceeded to the R.H. Phillips winery in Esparto. They also produce the Toasted Head brand. It was a winery we have been wanting to visit. It is a large, beautiful facility in the middle of nowhere. However, the tasting experience was less then thrilling (wine and the staff lacked the right stuff). Now we can say we've been there, done that, but didn't buy the t-shirt.

On the way home we stopped in Old Sac at the Rio City Cafe for drinks and our favorite appetizers - Ahi Tuna Nachos and the Cheese Loaf..... yum